The Issue
The crisis in Northeast Syria (NES) is characterised by severe protection, economic, livelihoods and food security concerns, with around two million people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2022.
The Humanitarian Response Plan for Syria anticipates that the situation will continue to deteriorate after 2022. Population movements within and outside of NES will mirror any conflicts, with some communities returning home and others leaving areas where tensions and/or violent conflict remains high.
The Project
The project will implement two groups of activities. The first group addresses the immediate food security needs of conflict-affected households through the monthly provision of cash using the Cash for Work modality. The Cash for Work modality is payments provided as a wage for workers which enables them to purchase food. This activity has been designed to meet the growing levels of food insecurity in the targeted communities, which are currently unable to meet their basic needs.
The second group aims to address the need for rapid, flexible, response to growing humanitarian needs. The proposed activities will enable DCA to respond quickly to emergent needs through the lightest, most flexible modality for supporting households in meeting their most basic needs, Multipurpose Cash Assistance.
The Change
The overall goal is to enable conflict-affected households to meet their basic need, saving lives and reinforcing communities, and building resilience. Specifically, the intervention addresses food and other basic needs of the most vulnerable households in Aleppo and Ar-Raqqa Governorates through the provision of Cash for Food and Multipurpose Cash Assistance, to improve the well-being and living conditions of 35,400 conflict-affected Syrians, including Internally Displaced Persons, returnees and host-community members.
The proposed project is expected to:
- Improve household level of food security in conflict-affected communities, through the provision of Cash for Work support to most vulnerable communities in Menbij and Kobane, Aleppo Governorate and Ar-Raqqa, Ar-Raqqa Governorate
- Enable extremely vulnerable households affected by conflict in Menbij, Kobane and/or Ar-Raqqa to access life-saving goods and services, through the provision of Multipurpose Cash Assistance, as a mobile, emergency response.
The intervention acts as part of the larger DCA Syria program, which aims to mitigate the impact of conflict in communities in Syria through the provision of lifesaving and resilience building support to people most in need.
The Results
Case Study
“I thought we were forgotten and had lost hope, then DCA contacted me for a house visit”. This was how Amal felt when DCA’s Cash for Food Officer visited her house. As a female head of household, Amal raised six children on her own in the Kobani district in Aleppo governate in Syria. Amal was raised in this village and worked in her family’s farm with her children, barely managing economically. When ISIS took control of Kobani, Amal and her children were forced to cross the Turkish border, eventually coming back to Kobani after the liberation from ISIS in 2015. However, Amal’s livelihood situation worsened as she was not able to farm on her land due to dangers of incursions. Amal was responsible for providing for her family, but prices of food and other basic items increased, further exacerbating her economic situation and her debts.
Due to her situation, Amal’s family was eligible to receive Cash for Food assistance provided by DCA, the only organisation providing this in the area. Amal received six out of eight rounds of cash which made her capable of paying back debts gradually and securing the most urgent need, food. As Amal expressed: “Thanks to the cash for food assistance, now I have one less thing to worry about and it made me feel more comfortable meeting my relatives and neighbours after paying some of the debts back”. Due to the support of the Cash for Food assistance, Amal no longer had to ask for money from relatives and neighbours which left her feeling embarrassed every time she saw them.
Our Work
DCA has been providing life-saving support to conflict-affected communities in NES since 2015, including Cash for Work support funded by USAID since 2020, and has established good working relations with communities, authorities, and other humanitarian actors in target locations. The proposed project will enable DCA to maintain and build upon and expand the outcomes achieved under the current BHA-funded intervention.
About this project
Project title: Life-saving Cash Support to Conflict-Affected Communities in Northeast Syria
Project period: August 2021 – July 2022
Partner: Self-implemented project
Funding: USD 4,051,713
Donor: USAID-BHA
People reached: 30,000
